THE HAGUE, Jan 1 (Reuters) – Two people died in the Netherlands in fireworks accidents and there were scattered instances of violence as the country celebrated the New Year, and in a separate incident a historic church in the heart of Amsterdam burned down.
The Netherlands traditionally rings in the New Year with people setting off their own fireworks, which causes hundreds of injuries and millions of euros in damage every year. This year, some 250 people were arrested on New Year’s Eve and in several towns riot police were deployed, police said.
“The impact of heavy fireworks and arson this New Year’s Eve in some areas was utterly devastating. The targeted violence against emergency services and police was intense again,” police said in a statement on Thursday.
The fireworks accidents killed a 38-year-old man in Aalsmeer, close to Amsterdam, and a boy from Nijmegen, a town in the east of the country, police said.
In Amsterdam, the neo-Gothic Vondelkerk, near the city’s central Vondelpark, was destroyed by a fire that started shortly after midnight.
The Amsterdam police and fire department said they were investigating and had no comment yet on what caused the blaze in the church, which was built in 1872.
New Year’s Eve 2025 marked the last year before a nationwide ban on the sale of fireworks to consumers will come into effect.
Emergency room doctors, police, firefighters and local and national politicians have campaigned for the ban for years.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den BergEditing by Frances Kerry)
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